Chelsea Manager Maurizzio finally admits feeling all alone as he battles to save Chelsea’s season — and his job.
The axe is likely to fall on the under-fire Italian if he fails to deliver Champions League football.
Sarri needs his Blues to either finish in the top four, or get into Europe’s glamour tournament through the back door by claiming Europa League glory.
Chelsea have already begun searching for a replacement, with Wolves chief Nuno Espirito Santo and club legend Frank Lampard their top choices.
It is a similar situation to the one Louis van Gaal endured in the final months of his Manchester United reign, when Jose Mourinho was openly courted.
And ahead of today’s trip to Cardiff, Sarri, 60, said: “I know very well that, in my job, you are always alone.
“Here, in Naples, in Empoli… everywhere, you depend only on the results.
“For me, it’s normal to have the feeling of being alone. For every coach, you are with the others only if you win. When you lose, you are alone.”
While most of Sarri’s squad have been away on international duty, there was no taking a short break for him to escape the pressures of the Stamford Bridge job.
The former banker has clearly not given up on staying at Chelsea for another season — and threw himself into hours of game videos in an attempt to find another edge.
He added: “I don’t switch off. Why try? I worked during the break. I watched the last five or six of our matches.
“I saw our future opponents. So I tried to work in the same way. When there is a match, when there is training, for me everything is very important.
“So I want to stay at the same level in the mind for 11 months.”
Sarri says Ross Barkley is finally ready to be a Chelsea star after shaking off the hangover of his injury nightmare.
Barkley has suddenly emerged as a vital cog in the Blues’ side as he begins to realise the potential he showed as a teenager at Everton.
The 25-year-old burst on to the scene at such a rate he forced his way into England’s World Cup squad in 2014.
Yet his career stalled at Goodison Park when a series of injuries struck.
Sarri says it has taken time for the midfielder to regain his confidence since his switch to Chelsea in January 2018.
But after impressive displays for England against Czech Republic and Montenegro, the Italian believes there is even more to come.
Sarri said: “At the beginning of the season, he had less confidence because last season was very hard for him.
“Then, after three, four or five matches in the starting XI, he changed. Now he’s a very important player for us. He’s improved a lot tactically and physically.
“Last season, he played only 200 minutes, so he needed to stay on the pitch.
“Fortunately now, he is going very well with the leg and has improved.
“In the offensive phase, he’s able to score seven or eight goals every season.
“But now he’s a good player also in the defensive phase. He’s not a defensive midfielder but he’s good enough now.”
With Chelsea down in sixth, Barkley is set to start today against Cardiff as they go in search of a vital win to keep their top-four hopes alive.
And though his manager does not think he will go on to be a leader in the mould of iconic ex-skipper John Terry, he loves the man from Liverpool’s battling qualities.
He added: “Probably he is not a leader in the way he will seize the initiative and drag teams through in games.
“But he’s a real fighter. So he is able to fight in every match for us.
“It’s a question of personality. Sometimes you have a very young player with a very high level of personality — sometimes not. It’s not easy to change.
“He has different characteristics. He is more offensive. He is so important now and has played a lot of matches.”